The anti-smoking watchdog group Smoke Free Movies threw a mini-fit about Avatar, in particular Sigourney Weaver’s character and her cylindrical vice, prompting director James Cameron to start another intergalactic war. Actually, he just issued a measured statement to the New York Times in which he agreed that "young role-model characters should not smoke in movies," but pushed back, asking "If it’s okay for people to lie, cheat, steal and kill in PG 13 movies, why impose an inconsistent morality when it comes to smoking?" A fair point indeed, but consider this: it doesn't have to be a moral issue because smoking just looks so goddamn cool. Especially on screen.

('’)Ten years ago, Carina Chocano wrote a hilarious, but heartfelt essay entitled "I am a smoker," in which she stood up for the addicted among us. She mused: "I smoke because I adore being lectured. Because we owe it to the Indians. Because cigarettes keep me company without getting on my nerves. Because half the point of having a vice is pissing off the virtuous." Not to mention the "scorching good looks" and "searing wit!" (Friends' Chandler made a similar argument.) But have these chemical-addled battle cries died in favor of righteous politicking?

Not so fast, says Times film critic A.O. Scott in his post published yesterday, "Movies and Vices: Made for Each Other." He drops pretense, admitting that "the only thing that looks better in black and white than a highball glass is a plume of cigarette smoke." And while it might fall out of real world fashion, "an on-screen smoke should remain an available pleasure, a signifier of the kind of romance only movies can deliver." Preach it, Tony.

So lest we forget how good our favorite film stars look with a ciggie dangling from their lips -- across genres and generations -- we've collected a small gallery celebrating ten of film's hottest smokers, presented without comment. Because a cigarette says a thousand words.

Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942)

Jean-Paul Belmondo in Breathless (1960)

Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

John Travolta in Grease (1978)

River Phoenix in Stand By Me (1986)

Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction (1994)

Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects (1995)

Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (1992)

Johnny Depp in Chocolat (2000)